24.10.2023

Since the number portability service - which enables the users to choose the offer most fitted to their needs while keeping their phone number - was launched 15 years ago, almost 11 million phone numbers have been transferred within the fixed and mobile networks in Romania. This year, 1.2 million phone numbers were ported, 96% of them mobile.

Since 21 October 2008, when the portability service was introduced, a total of 10,927,165 telephone numbers have been ported, of which 9,837,487 are mobile numbers and 1,089,678 are fixed telephone numbers.

Portability statistics 2023

From the beginning of this year until 15 October, 1,200,975 phone numbers have been ported, of which 1,158,896 were mobile numbers and 42,079 were fixed telephone numbers.

During this period, RCS&RDS received 702,048 ported mobile telephone numbers, followed by Vodafone with 218,054 ported numbers, Orange with 135,335 numbers, Telekom Romania Mobile Communications with 84,983 numbers and Orange Romania Communications with 18,380 ported numbers.

When it comes to fixed telephony, RCS&RDS received 20,968 ported numbers, Orange 11,059 and Vodafone 3,341 numbers.

The porting process

The new European Electronic Communications Code has brought several important changes to the portability service to increase benefits for users.

Return of unused credit: Providers whose services are renounced at will, upon request, return unused credit to consumers who have paid for services in advance. If specified in the contract, a fee may be charged for the return of any unused credit, however it should be proportionate and appropriate to the actual costs incurred by the provider in carrying out this operation.

Porting request by means of distance communication: The acceptor provider may receive the request for porting by means of distance communication, provided that it has the means to carry out remotely the checks necessary for the acceptance of the request: whether the person requesting porting is the holder of the contract or his legal representative and whether the number for which porting is requested is the subject of the contract concluded between the subscriber and the donor provider.

Changing the conditions for assigning the temporary number: ANCOM noticed, through complaints received from subscribers, that in case of non-completion of porting, they were often in the undesirable situation of remaining with two contracts, one with the donor provider (corresponding to the number to be ported) and one with the acceptor provider (corresponding to the number temporarily allocated by him). Currently, if the porting is not completed, the acceptor provider must ask the subscriber, within 30 days from the last day of the porting window, for agreement to continuing the contractual relationship through the provisionally allocated telephone number, otherwise the contract for this number will be terminated de jure without any formalities.

Compensation: The acceptor provider will, upon request, compensate subscribers in the following situations: if the number was activated after the expiry of the period of one working day from the agreed date for porting or if the electronic communications service was interrupted during the porting process for more than one working day. The donor provider will, upon request, compensate subscribers in cases where porting was made without their consent.

Information to users

Users have at their disposal the website www.portabilitate.ro, where they can find out if a phone number has been ported and its current network. At the same time, the site provides details on the steps to be followed to port a phone number, answers to questions that frequently arise in porting process, but also tips to avoid possible problems that may occur during this process.